Wade Barrett
Stuart Alexander "Stu" Bennett (born August 10, 1980) is an English professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE for Extreme where he performs on its SmackDown! brand under the ring name Wade Barrett. Prior to his WWE debut, Barrett competed in various independent promotions under his own name, and the ring names of Stu Sanders and Lawrence Knight. Early life Bennett was born in Penwortham and lived in Preston, Lancashire until the age of six, when he moved to Wales with his family. He has an older brother named Martin. As a child, Bennett was a fan of "The British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith, Mr. Perfect, Randy Savage, Bret Hart, and Shawn Michaels. He supports Preston North End. Before becoming a professional wrestler, Bennett was a bareknuckle boxer while living in Liverpool. Bennett has a degree in marine biology from University of Liverpool. He worked in a science laboratory and later as a Recruitment Consultant at Venn Group's London Office, whilst training to become a wrestler. Professional wrestling career Debut Bennett decided to become a professional wrestler at the age of 21, and was trained by Jon Ritchie and Al Snow. He made his professional wrestling debut in June 2004, using the ring name "Stu Sanders", as a surprise entrant in a 30-man battle royal held by NWA UK Hammerlock Wrestling. Sanders also performed at numerous Dropkixx Wrestling and All Star Wrestling events, as well as wrestling in Wales for Welsh Wrestling. In June 2005 he beat Danny Beckwith for the Dropkixx IWC Heavyweigt Championship. In 2006, at Celtic Wrestling, he received a title match for CW Heavyweight Championship against Caiman. World Wrestling Entertainment / WWE (2007–Present) Developmental territories (2007–2009) in 2009.]] Bennett participated in a tryout with WWE for Extreme in November 2006 after appearing as part of a security team on the November 13 edition of RAW along with Sheamus in Manchester, England. He had another tryout in 2007, and signed a developmental contract with them in October. He was assigned to Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) under his Stu Sanders ring name, where he was defeated by Ace Steel in a dark match. He later formed a tag team with Paul Burchill and the pair faced the Major Brothers in several matches. On 2 January 2008 Sanders and Burchill defeated Colt Cabana and Charles Evans in the final of a tournament for the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship. Sanders and Burchill held the title for nearly two months before losing it to Los Locos (Ramón and Raúl) in a four-way match also involving The Insurgency (Ali and Omar Akbar) and The Mobile Homers (Ted McNaler and Adam Revolver). After WWE ended their relationship with OVW as a developmental territory, Sanders was moved to Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) with several other wrestlers. On 6 May 2008, Sanders and Drew McIntyre, collectively known as The Empire, defeated The Puerto Rican Nightmares (Eddie Colón and Eric Pérez) to win the FCW Florida Tag Team Championship. They lost the titles back to the Nightmares at FCW's first TV taping on 17 July. The team broke up after the loss, and Sanders began wrestling under his real name before changing it to Lawrence Knight at the 9 October FCW television taping. On 19 February 2009, Knight announced that he was the new FCW commentator, alongside Dusty Rhodes. He became color commentator due to an injury, in which he tore his Latissimus dorsi muscle and required surgery. WWE SmackDown! (2008-present) While still competing in FCW, Barrett began making appearances on WWE for Extreme's SmackDown program in mid-2008. He defeated Jerry Static on the July 7 edition of SmackDown!, and lost to Kelly Oliver in the main event on July 18. However, he was taken off TV when he tore his Latissimus dorsi in that match, and he was moved back to FCW to work as a color commentator. Barrett returned to WWE television on the April 3 edition of SmackDown!, cutting a promo where he referred to the "Barrett Barrage". Personal life On 15 June 2008, Bennett was arrested in Tampa, Florida and charged with battery on a law enforcement officer (a felony) and obstructing an officer (a misdemeanor). The arrest took place outside of Champps Restaurant and Bar (2223 West Shore Boulevard North) at 2 am. Bennett was released the next day. According to FCW sources, all charges were subsequently dropped by police. Bennett has two tattoos. The first is a barbwire tattoo on his left deltoid. He later expanded it to cover the entire deltoid. The second is a tribal design directly underneath the former tattoo. In wrestling *'Finishing moves' **''Wasteland'' (Forward fireman's carry slam) – 2008–present **''Barrett Barrage'' (Spinning side slam) - 2009-present **Manchester Clash (Running high-impact clothesline, or a running lariat) - 2008 *'Signature moves' **Back kick **Setting Sun (Big boot, sometimes to a rope-hung opponent) **Belly-to-belly suplex **Diving elbow drop **Double underhook suplex **European uppercut **Headbutt **Leaping elbow smash **Powerbomb, sometimes dropped into a sitout position **Pendulum backbreaker **Pumphandle slam **Neckbreaker **Slingshot backbreaker **Spinebuster *'Nicknames' **"The Bare Knuckle Brawler" **"The Jackal" **"The Pinnacle" *'Entrance themes' **"We Are One" by 12 Stones (2008) **'"End of Days"' by Matt McCloskey (March 2009–present) Championships and accomplishments *'Dropkixx' **Dropkixx IWC European Heavyweight Championship (1 time) *'Florida Championship Wrestling' **FCW Florida Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Drew McIntyre *'Ohio Valley Wrestling' **OVW Southern Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Paul Burchill Category:1980 births Category:English wrestlers Category:Wrestlers Category:WWE for Extreme